It was only a year ago that “Geordie Shore,” MTV UK’s wild take on “Jersey Shore,” used Snapchat to promote its sixth season, and a new social media marketing movement was born.

Since then, HBO’s “Girls” has jumped on-board the Snapchat train, as well as The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries” and just about two weeks ago, “Pretty Little Liars” among many other brands who dig the ephemeral quality of the app’s images that disappear almost as soon as they are received. “Liars’” Snapchat content will arrive in sync with whatever episode of the show is currently airing, marking the first time concurrent content from the app will be lined up with a TV program.

“The PLL audience is always looking for exclusive content to help get more information about the show,” Mark Rejtig, SVP of national sales for ABC Family told Adweek. “The nature of Snapchat will create the sense of urgency since the images appear quickly. It’s an interesting way to deploy content to our rabid fans.”

It would seem brands are figuring out how to use Snapchat to their advantage, and just as they have, along comes a new wrinkle: Facebook’s Snapshot competitor, Slingshot.

Since Facebook was denied a $3 billion bid for Snapchat last November, we knew this was coming (well, really it came once already, with the failed Poke) but even then, Facebook’s key innovations with Slingshot manages to surprise. Like Snapchat, the user may quickly create an image or video, doctor it up a bit, and send it to a friend. Like Snapchat, that little burst of creativity will vanish from its recipient’s feed moments after being viewed. Unlike Snapchat, said recipient may not view said content until he or she produces a piece of insta-content of their own, and “slings” it back to the original sender. Unlike Snapchat, Slingshot has a Select All button, meaning that not only may the user send their content to all their friends at once, but each those friends must send something back before they can view it.

“With Slingshot, we wanted to build something where everybody is a creator and nobody is just a spectator,” announced a recent post on the app’s Tumblr blog. “When everyone participates, there’s less pressure, more creativity and even the little things in life can turn into awesome shared experiences. This is what Slingshot is all about.”

Snapchat has had little trouble, er, snapping up partnerships for real-time branded content, but Slingshot’s mutual sharing system presents what many will almost definitely see as a barrier that sort of content. Were “Pretty Little Liars” on Slingshot for instance, how many followers would bother to send an image or video back to the show’s account just to view a message from it?

Of course, for hardcore fans of a TV brand, Slingshot will probably be preferable to Snapchat as it lets them participate with their beloved show at a deeper level. For casual fans (read: most people), however, it seems much less likely people would go through the trouble. I would say Slingshot could make it worth the fan’s while by creating contests around the returned content or showcasing it somehow, but oh yeah, that content disappears before you can do anything with it.

“Using Slingshot has made us feel closer,” continued the company’s blog post, and it will surely make a certain percentage of brands’ fans feel that way too. But will it be enough to matter?

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